Roberta Santarelli1,
Marion Tardieu1, Ralph Sinkus2, Pierre-Yves Brillet3,
Luc Darrasse1, Xavier Matre1
1IR4M,
Universit Paris sud-XI, Orsay, Ile de France, France; 2Centre de
Recherches Biomdicales Bichat-Beaujon, Paris, Ile de France, France; 33Rponses
Cellulaires et Fonctionnelles l'Hypoxie, Bobigny, Ile de France, France
The mechanical properties of lung tissue play a key role in the basic function of the organ. They could be very sensitive pulmonary biomarkers as they are dramatically altered by most lung diseases. Currently available imaging modalities fail to regionally probe them in-vivo. Initiated in 1995, MR-elastography was recently implemented on a tracer gas, hyperpolarized helium-3, to explore the viscoelastic properties of the lung. This work demonstrates the feasibility in vivo of helium-3 MR-elastography in small animal and human lungs with extracted mean dynamic shear moduli of (0.720.002) kPa and (1.830.02) kPa, respectively and corresponding mean loss shear moduli of (0.160.003) kPa and (0.250.008) kPa. This opens up promising insights into diseased lungs in patients suffering from emphysema, fibrosis, or cancer.
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